How does NPM perform device discovery and what credential types are supported?

How does NPM perform device discovery and what credential types are supported?

• A. Discovers devices by manual IP entry; supports SNMP v1/v2c/v3, WMI, and SSH/CLI.
• B. Discovers devices by DNS only; supports SNMP v1/v3.
• C. Discovers devices by DNS and IP ranges; uses SNMP only.
• D. Discovers devices by scanning IP ranges or DNS; supports SNMP v1/v2c/v3, Windows WMI, and SSH/CLI.

Answer: (D)

NPM discovers devices by scanning IP ranges and resolving DNS names to IP addresses, rather than relying on manual entry or DNS alone. This allows it to locate a broad set of devices across a network. For accessing and collecting data from those devices, NPM supports multiple credential types: SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3 for most network gear; Windows WMI for Windows hosts; and SSH (or CLI) for devices that provide a command-line interface. This combination covers the common device types found in mixed environments, explaining why this option is the best fit. The other approaches are incomplete because they limit discovery to manual IPs or DNS only, or restrict credentials to SNMP only, missing Windows and CLI-based access.

NPM discovers devices by scanning IP ranges and resolving DNS names to IP addresses, rather than relying on manual entry or DNS alone. This allows it to locate a broad set of devices across a network. For accessing and collecting data from those devices, NPM supports multiple credential types: SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3 for most network gear; Windows WMI for Windows hosts; and SSH (or CLI) for devices that provide a command-line interface. This combination covers the common device types found in mixed environments, explaining why this option is the best fit. The other approaches are incomplete because they limit discovery to manual IPs or DNS only, or restrict credentials to SNMP only, missing Windows and CLI-based access.